Wednesday, May 2, 2012

April 30, 2012

Have I mentioned to you guys that
Brazilians eat pizza with ketchup and mayonnaise? I thought you would
get a kick out of that. I knew there was a reason I was so keen
on that before my mission...

Sounds like you all have busy
lives going on. We do too. We started out our week
extremely well. Then Elder F***** got sick. Then our
awesome week went out the window. So maybe this week will be
awesome. I will be going to a different area for two days while
Elder F***** is at a District Leader meeting. So hopefully
after he gets back he will be motivated and we will do awesome,
and find more people to teach. That would help.

We
have been making quite a few contacts with people and we have a ton
of potential investigators. Now we just need to get inside
their homes and teach them the gospel. One of my pet peeves
though is when people say that their family is "just leaving,
so...," and you look in and see that he or his wife is laying on
the couch looking like all they want to do for the rest of the day is
relax. "Oh, we are leaving right now." Umm, no you
are not. Look at how you are sitting and sipping that
Chemarrão. You are not leaving. But what can we do?
Just got to move on and search for those God is preparing for
us.

While Elder F***** was sick, someone rang the doorbell and
I answered it and it was three Jehovah's Witnesses. I stood
patiently and listened to what they said and told them that I was a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Once
they finished talking, they told me that they appreciated so much
that I didn't slam the door in their face and that I and my companion
were some of the first Mormons they had met who practiced what they
preached. That stuck with me. Even though I wasn't
interested and they knew that, they were glad that I first heard them
out before telling them "no, thank you."

I just got
to Captain Moroni in the Portuguese Book of Mormon, and I am now
understanding everything that I am reading. Captain Moroni is
awesome. I love the fact that the Book of Mormon states that
Moroni is just as righteous as any of the prophets, but that he knew
his place in the line of authority of God and would always ask Alma
[the prophet] to communicate with God on how they should act in times
of war. I love it. It states that if everyone was like
Captain Moroni, hell would tremble and the devil and his angels would
have no power over the hearts of men. So I highlighted all the
attributes of Captain Moroni. This guy is the real deal.

There
is so much to learn on my mission, and I am really glad that I chose
to go on a mission and chose to stay on through the really tough
parts of it. Thank you all for your support. I love
you.